More and more people today choose a civil partnership — living together without officially registering the relationship. Fewer people now seek marriage itself, as it has begun to lose its spiritual value. Young people often give many arguments in favour of cohabitation, which the church does not support: they say that legal registration is only a formality unrelated to real feelings, and that before a wedding people should live together to get to know each other and “rehearse” family life. In practice, however, this “rehearsal” often drags on for years while the relationship does not develop, or the civil partnership simply breaks down. This is not surprising: the supposed advantages can be challenged, while the disadvantages are many.
First, no matter how tolerant the state may be towards unregistered relationships, cohabiting partners compared to legal spouses often feel legally unprotected. Laws differ from country to country, and in some places civil partners have no rights at all — meaning they are little different from two people whose lives are not legally connected. Even where the law is more flexible and grants certain rights, civil partnership is still not equal to legal marriage, and this affects divorce, child upbringing, and what happens when one partner dies.
Second, civil partnership often points to a lack of trust between people. From the outside, it may look like an ideal relationship that needs no official confirmation, but in reality neither partner feels fully responsible for the relationship, and women especially can feel vulnerable. People in such a union understand that, despite love, good daily life and apparent harmony, there is still a half-open door that allows one to leave quickly and begin new relationships with someone else. The absence of commitment is not a benefit but a weakness of civil partnership: it shows that people have not fully taken responsibility for growing the relationship, that they may not be ready to support the one they love in hardship, and that they want all the benefits of marriage while keeping complete freedom. This leads to mistrust and sooner or later can destroy the relationship.
This site is for Christian dating, and the Christian church considers civil partnership without marriage to be sinful — and for Christians this is its greatest disadvantage. It is impossible to build a truly happy family when shared life begins in sin, because God does not bless such relationships.